Former heads of states, foreign ministers, political and cultural figures in Latin America have called on the international community to impose sanctions on Israel for its decision to forcefully and illegally annex large parts of the Palestinian territory.
Through a petition signed in this regard, they also called for the reinstatement of the Special Committee against Apartheid and lifting Israel’s immunity, which is allowing it to systematically violate the international law with strategic and direct support from the US President, Donald Trump.
They condemned Israel’s move as “illegal and unprecedented” denouncing what they described as “the unaccountable crimes exercised by the occupation against the Palestinian people’s rights.”
They said the “Deal of the Century” has reinforced all these Israeli violations “which are a flagrant violation of the basic principles of international law, including the right to self-determination and the inadmissibility of annexing territory by force.”
According to Wafa news agency, signatories affirmed that the petition is a response to a call by the Palestinian people, who have been living for decades under the Israeli occupation, colonialism and the apartheid regime.
They urged countries to take effective measures to stop the Israeli annexation which violates the Palestinian humanitarian rights.
They also expressed support for the Palestinian people’s appeal to ban arms trade and cooperation with Israel in the military and security fields and to suspend free trade agreements with Israel, warning that trading with Israeli settlements is illegal.
They also pledged to work in line with their countries’ national structures to pressure their governments to implement the measures called upon in the petition, stressing that they are necessary and essential to confront the Israeli occupation’s racist and barbarian acts.
Members of the international community have earlier unanimously rejected the apartheid regime in South Africa and helped overthrow it through effective accountability measures, signatories added, stressing that their demands are similar and aim at ending decades of Israeli repression against Palestinians.
Among the most prominent signatories are former Presidents Dilma Rousseff (Brazil), Lula da Silva (Brazil), Evo Morales (Bolivia), Ernesto Samper (Colombia), Rafael Correa (Ecuador), José Mujica (Ecuador), and Fernando Lugo (Paraguay), in addition to Brazilian singers Chico Buarque and Caetano Veloso and Argentinean Nobel Peace Prize-winner Adolfo Pérez Esquivel.
